E.D. Ponders Effect of Base Closings on Impact-Aid Program

While Portsmouth, N.H., educators had to contend with
major uncertainties over the effects of the closing of their local
military base, U.S. Education Department officials may be facing even
bigger questions about how upcoming base closures will affect the
impact-aid program and the school districts that have come to depend on
it.

"I know we've got a lineup for closings, but we don't know when, at
what rate, and who else might move in,'' said Charles Hansen, who
directs the department's office of impact aid. "I'd like it to be more
manageable, but it's not.''

So far, it has not been difficult for Mr. Hansen's office to deal
with base closings and the section of the impact-aid law that provides
transitional aid to districts that lose their military-dependent
students. Only two districts have so far received aid under section 3e
of the law: Portsmouth, which got $1.8 million in 1992, and Clark
County, Ky., which received just $1,200.

Over the coming years, however, the impact-aid office expects to be
swamped with requests for extra help from districts that now educate
children of military families. While the 1991 closing of Pease Air
Force Base--which hit the Portsmouth schools hard--has highlighted some
universal issues, Mr. Hansen observed, each district will be affected
differently.

"These things are very idiosyncratic, very hard to predict,'' he
said.

Trying To Get a Fix

Even the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, which
represents districts that get impact aid, has been having difficulty
figuring out when certain districts will be affected by impending base
closures, according to John Forkenbrock, the group's executive
director.

Mr. Forkenbrock said he has been surveying districts to find out
what they have been hearing from the Defense Department.

"We're trying to get a fix, draw a bead on these districts that are
going to see an impact on the next school year,'' he said. But the
Department of Defense "just doesn't seem to have any accurate
information going to one central location.''

Mr. Forkenbrock said he will use the information he collects to make
a recommendation to the Congress on how much 3e money should be
provided in fiscal 1993. Up to $10 million may be needed, he said.

That figure may eventually rise to $30 million when the base
closures reach their peak in about three years, Mr. Hansen noted.

The Bush Administration opposes making such payments, however, and
did not include a 3e-spending proposal in its budget.

Under current law, districts that lose their military-dependent
students receive 90 percent of their previous year's allotment in each
of three years. Thus, in the third year, a district would get 73
percent of the amount it had received when it had such students.

The Administration instead favors a system under which districts
losing students as a result of a base closure would receive a payment
equal to 100 percent of the previous year's funding, but only for one
year.

Under the current system, Mr. Hansen argued, "In the fourth year,
it's a lot of money for kids that haven't been there in four
years.''

Administration officials believe impact-aid payments should follow
the students to the districts where their military parents have been
transferred.

Prior-Year Data Urged

Mr. Hansen said the Administration's proposal would work if the
impact-aid program goes from using current-year to prior-year data to
calculate aid awards. That would allow for smoother transitions in
districts where bases are closing, he said.

Although the Congress is considering a shift to prior-year data, it
is unclear whether it will implement the change in an appropriations
bill this year, or wait to consider the issue when the program is
reauthorized next year.

Nevertheless, one year of payments is not enough to sustain a
formerly impacted district, said Superintendent Nathan Greenberg of the
Portsmouth schools. In fact, he said, three years may be too short.

"What it sounds like is, if you're trying to be fiscally and
educationally prudent, you're being punished for it,'' Mr. Greenberg
said. "How can we not drop the budget when we lose 1,000 kids? If we
didn't [reduce the budget] there'd be a lot of school-board and
city-council bodies hanging from the lampposts.''

No matter how the debate over section 3e is resolved, districts
facing a nearby closure will be forced to address several other
issues.

Mr. Hansen said the criteria that will determine how a district is
affected will include:

The amount of state funding. Since New Hampshire provides less
state aid to schools than other states do, Portsmouth is almost
entirely dependent on federal aid and local taxes. Districts getting
more state funding will not be as reliant on federal aid.

Whether the district is dependent or independent of its local
government. Portsmouth is a dependent district, meaning that its
funding comes through the city. That could make it easier to raise
property taxes to make up a funding shortfall if federal aid is
eliminated.

The speed of base closure.

The percentage of total enrollment represented by
military-dependent students.

Developing Options

Some districts are already preparing for a nearby closing.

For example, the closure of Loring Air Force Base in Maine in 1994
will reduce the student population of the Limestone schools from more
than 1,800 to fewer than 300, explained Superintendent Bernard F.
Ryder.

In determining what to do with the remaining students, Mr. Ryder
said, the Limestone school board must determine whether it wants to
continue educating local students under the existing system, form a new
district with nearby townships, or pay to send its students to other
districts.

Mr. Ryder said he is planning to offer three options to attract
outside students and keep the district alive: Limestone could create a
public boarding school; join with the Coalition of Essential Schools, a
national school-reform network; or create an international agriculture
school.

Vol. 11, Issue 32, Page 12

Notice: We recently upgraded our comments. (Learn more here.) If you are logged in as a subscriber or registered user and already have a Display Name on edweek.org, you can post comments. If you do not already have a Display Name, please create one here.

Ground Rules for Posting
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.